Encase
by Vicky-V
Summary: One little mistake and there goes your life. RaditzxZarbon oneshot.


**Pairing:** RaditzxZarbon

**Word Count:** 2,140

**Notes:** AU

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing in connection with Dragonball Z, nor do I make any money writing this fanfiction.

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**Encase**

Raditz's back and shoulders are littered with small scars. Should he find his mind turning to them, he can feel his body burn and sting as he remembers how they got there. There are many, all gathered over time but all from the same source.

He gets the feeling there's still something in Zarbon which hates him for what happened, but he still can't tell when it will appear. Mostly Zarbon is fine and just how he always was; a proud, arrogant bastard who is often infuriating when he opens his mouth. He always dares to take that one step closer which no other being would towards any Saiyan in general because he knows he'll end up getting away with it. But sometimes, when he feels like it, he'll let Raditz take that extra step towards him as well.

Then there are the other times. It's been a few years, Raditz hasn't kept track, and Zarbon is still on that medication. It gets sent to him and, mostly, Zarbon's body is used to it being in his system. But there are still the bad days. The days where he's recovering from an injury or there's something else messing with his system and taking the medication causes him to become ill. Once or twice it was so bad he was severely delirious.

Other times it's nothing to do with the medication. It's because the beast is restless, still angry, still filled with the need, want and lust for destruction and it leaks into Zarbon's body. Or at least Raditz thinks so. At the same time he knows Zarbon is still angry over what happened and there's still a want for revenge. That's why the scars are there. They're only ever inflicted when they fuck. Not every time but that's always the only occasion he'll feel the burn of Zarbon's fingernails and the sting of his teeth ripping through his skin.

xxx

They had tracked down the beast and cornered it on a planet which had been lying empty and barren ever since anybody could remember. It was an unusual alliance, but temporary, made up of practically any planet who had fallen victim to the beast and had the appropriate forces to send. Considering how badly some of their homes had been hit, it was nothing short of a miracle some of them were there at all.

The beast was mostly an unknown, which was one of the major reasons behind so many races coming together to form a large search and destroy army. The more beings they had, the more tactics, the more abilities, the more of a chance there was of them being able to destroy the beast. All they knew was that it was somehow able to move from planet to planet, taking what it wanted from the life upon it before moving on. Nobody quite knew how, save for stories of it using the stars to travel, but many waved that off as superstition. What many of them agreed on was that this beast, this monster, was something very evil with no other purpose than destruction and so needed to be destroyed as soon as possible.

Once the battle started, it went on for a long time. So many fell, scattered over the ground as they were torn apart by claws through their gut and teeth around their skull. Many fell but few hit the ground. Instead they were snapped up by the beast's jaws.

The fight went on all through the night and into the next day. As the numbers of fighting survivors were decreased, the only thing which kept them going was knowing they were slowly wearing the beast down.

xxx

Nobody had noticed him standing there, staring at his hands. Nobody even knew his name as everyone else who had come from his planet had fallen. He was a soldier of average build and if someone glanced towards him and had time to think they would briefly marvel at the miracle it was that he hadn't fallen victim to the beast's jaws yet.

Suddenly he had straightened and screamed for everybody to stand back. Hardly anybody heard him through the screams and roars and explosions and rumbling of collapsing mountains and cliffs. But he continued to shout as he raced forward, towards the beast and through the blinding dust being kicked up around it. As he went he interrupted his warnings with other words in a language nobody was able to pick up and making odd gestures with his hands.

He stopped when he was right up close to the beast where only the bravest of the warriors who were still standing would go. When he stopped and held up his hands, Raditz landed beside him from where he was attempting to attack potential weak spots of perhaps the beast's ears, nostrils or eyes but with no success. As soon as his feet touched the ground, the unknown soldier released something which at first Raditz thought with a simple ki blast.

When Raditz looked again, he supposed it was somewhat that. But it appeared to be taking the form of a web, spreading and weaving itself into something huge which wrapped around the beast and tightened. The enraged beast roared and thrashed wildly, but was held in the binds.

"Hey you!" the soldier shouted over to Raditz. "If I fall, you've gotta take over this thing. Drag it to a dead body. It'll merge within it and then you'll be able to destroy it."

Raditz just nodded and stepped back, wondering why the hell this hadn't been done in the first place, even if there was the chance of it being something forbidden. The struggling beast was dragged towards a body which was mostly still intact, tossing its head back as it let out one enraged roar after another.

xxx

He had fallen and Raditz had taken over. Even then he had the feeling of having better things to do, but he was also horribly aware that nothing he tried had worked so far. Taking over the technique had been easier than he thought. It was like handing over something as simple as a rock. The soldier just held out his hands towards him and Raditz, wearily, put his hands into the bright blue ki blast coming from them.

Then, all of a sudden, it had been coming from his hands and he could feel his hair blowing back and feel the whistle of wind screaming past his ears. The soldier fell, gutted with one of the beast's claws which had managed to thrash out of the net.

Raditz gritted his teeth hard, concentrating and gathering all his energy. He had no idea what he was doing, but supposed, hoped, it would just all work out.

And it appeared to be doing so. The net around the beast was closing, squeezing it down as it thrashed and roared with rage, becoming more and more helpless. Raditz started to drag it towards the dead body of the soldier who had started the attack. Just get it into a dead body and then destroying it would be easy.

Then he saw something, someone, pass him quickly. It shot past the dead body and towards the beast.

"Hey!" Raditz called over the noise. "Get back you fucking idiot!"

But there was too much noise and so whoever had rushed forward didn't get back. By then it was too late.

xxx

It was roughly three years later when Raditz woke up and Zarbon was sat on his windowsill. The drape, which Raditz had only put in to keep any early morning sunlight from disturbing him, was pulled back and it was still dark outside. Zarbon didn't seem to be looking at anything in particular as he stared out of the window with his arms looped around his drawn up knee which his chin rested upon. The other leg hung down because there wasn't enough room for it upon the windowsill.

"They let you out then," Raditz said, sitting up and pushing his forehead into his palm.

"Yeah, they let me out," Zarbon said absently. Then he turned his head and Raditz could see the shadows stretching under his eyes. "Day and night of tests, exams, experiments, tubes, injections, large machines which beep, click, whir and just about everything else again and again until they had to call it quits and let me out. I've got this medication I'm to keep taking for a while and when I do it feels like my throat is being melted away. Like my systems are being rearranged. And all for three things I could have figured out within much less than half the time. That monster is inside me, there's no way of getting it out and it's only because of my strength that I managed to survive. Now I've got to spend hell knows how long learning to properly keep it under control, because some of the fits I've had make your entire race look about a fierce as a feather bobbing in a puddle."

Raditz smiled and felt his shoulders jump as he snorted in amusement, despite himself. "Never heard that one before."

"I'm fairly certain you'd understand if my wit is lacking," Zarbon said. "Even a Saiyan should be able to take one look at me and know I look absolutely terrible."

"Who wouldn't after three years in an institute like that one?" He could see how Zarbon was looking at him, glaring over his arms. "But I'm also able to take one look at you and know there's something else you want to get at. You never held your tongue before, why start now?"

"It's quite possibly because I'm two creatures in one body now," Zarbon said. "But you're right, let's get to it. Because I'd love to know why you pulled that thing into my body. Since when could you perform a technique like that anyway?"

"It wasn't my technique." Raditz sighed heavily. "It was somebody else's, which would have gone well had you not decided to play the hero and rush forward."

"I was trying to destroy that thing like everyone else there." Zarbon leaned back against the wall and his arms dropped into his lap. Raditz noticed how he was clawing lightly against his leg. "All I thought was that you had somehow managed to manipulate your ki."

"Surprised you could tell it was me in all that commotion."

"All that hair flying around, who else would it be? Next thing I know, I'm seeing a bright light and it feels like something is tearing me apart from the inside. I thought the thing had somehow managed to get me and that was what dying felt like. It probably is. But when I opened my eyes I'm in a padded cell with tubes sticking out of my arms and chest, attached to a machine which lets out this infuriating beep every few moments. I would've ripped it apart except it turned out I was too drugged up to move."

"The hell do you want? An apology?"

A smile pulled at the corners of Zarbon's mouth. But there was a strike of malice to it. "Rip down your Saiyan pride, the very thing you are? What would I want to destroy you for?"

"I had that thing trapped, you got in the way and happened to be the first body the technique came across. It wasn't meant to be that way. It was one major fuck up."

"Don't I know it. Three years I've known it. Three long sleepless years. I've barely slept because of what I keep seeing when I close my eyes. You've completely destroyed me!"

"What the hell are you doing here?" Raditz was on his feet and tense, wanting with most of his body to strike out. But there was a part of him keeping in mind what that monster could do and that it was inside Zarbon's body. He supposed it could potentially burst out in some form or another at any moment. "If I've fucked up your life so badly, why are you still here? You could have taken your stuff and gone by now."

"And destroyed all of yours."

Raditz just tightened his jaws, unable to think of anything to say which didn't carry a possibility of the conversation looping around in a circle.

"I don't know why I'm still here," Zarbon said, sounding much more solemn. "I don't know why I came back. I've got no home planet to go back to anymore, but I could have gone anywhere."

"I've heard of this love-hate thing," Raditz said, stepping up behind Zarbon and leaning on the wall. "Always thought we might have had something like that."

"I'm staying, Saiyan. There's no need to use the past tense."

"Why change a good-bad thing?" Raditz smiled.

_**END**_


End file.
